A Courtroom Drama

Paul's Defense Before Agrippa

¹So lAgrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today magainst all the accusations of the Jews, ³especially because you are familiar with all the ncustoms and ocontroversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴p“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among qmy own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that raccording to the strictest sparty of our treligion I have lived as ua Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in vthe promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷wto which xour twelve tribes hope to yattain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope zI am accused by Jews, O king! ⁸Why is it thought aincredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹b“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of cJesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰dAnd I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority efrom the chief priests, but fwhen they were put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹And gI punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them hblaspheme, and iin raging fury against them I jpersecuted them even to foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹²“In this connection kI journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me lin the Hebrew language,1 ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶But rise and mstand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, nto appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷odelivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—pto whom I qam sending you ¹⁸rto open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from sthe power of Satan to God, that they may receive tforgiveness of sins and ua place among those who are sanctified vby faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to wthe heavenly vision, ²⁰but declared first xto those in Damascus, ythen in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also zto the Gentiles, that they should arepent and bturn to God, performing deeds cin keeping with their repentance. ²¹For this reason dthe Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. ²²eTo this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so fI stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what gthe prophets and Moses said would come to pass: ²³hthat the Christ imust suffer and that, jby being the first kto rise from the dead, lhe would proclaim mlight both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, nyou are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, omost excellent Festus, but I am speaking ptrue and qrational words. ²⁶For rthe king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be sa Christian?”2 ²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day tmight become such as I am—except for uthese chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and vthe governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. ³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, w“This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³²And Agrippa said to Festus, x“This man could have been set yfree if he had not appealed zto Caesar.”